


Ill-Advised Romances For The Busy Woman Adventurer

by ruff_ethereal



Category: Mage & Demon Queen (Webcomic), 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29297220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: Adventurers were well-known for taking risks that normal people would not. Alongside the usual matters of throwing yourself headlong into mortal peril and trusting near-total strangers with your life and limbs, there were also ill-advised romances.As a woman adventurer of thoroughness, preparedness, and prudence, Keqing was minimizing those risks by enlisting someone well-versed in the third: Malori Crowett.
Relationships: Ganyu/Keqing (Genshin Impact), Keqing (Genshin Impact) & Malori Crowett
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	Ill-Advised Romances For The Busy Woman Adventurer

Keqing sighed. “This is the stupidest, most misguided, and potentially disastrous contract I have ever willingly signed up for,” she said as she signed her name on the dotted line.

She was in Crowett’s Bakery, sitting in the kitchen in the back, the curtains drawn over the windows and the doors firmly locked for the sake of security. If word got around to anyone about this, even the people they most trusted, Keqing was sure that swift and _permanent_ deaths were awaiting the both of them.

The ink dried, the enchanted contract glowed as all the many magics weaved into the paper activated. The other party in this agreement—Malori Crowett—smiled as she rolled it up and stowed it away into her inventory for safe-keeping.

“Trust me, I’m not going to make you regret this,” she said.

“Considering the sheer amount of times I have been told that to my face then was ultimately proven wrong… forgive me if I don’t put much weight into your words, Ms. Crowett,” Keqing said.

“No offense taken, I was already planning to back them up with actions and ink, anyway," Malori said as she started producing different documents and papers from her inventory. "And just call me Malori, we're going to be partners from here on out, after all."

Keqing sighed. “Very well then, Malori,” she said as she was handed one of the documents, she began to examine it like she would any other.

Just a few seconds in, her eyes were widening, by the second document, she felt a sense of uneasiness and confusion come over her, and by the time she finished reading the last text, Keqing felt more deeply conflicted than she ever had in her life.

On the one hand, she now had full confidence that Malori would deliver on her end of the bargain, and Keqing now knew that she had the drive, the skill, and her plans were meticulous with the intelligence to support them. Keqing didn’t know how much more thorough of a job she could have done, considering that she hadn’t realized much of this was even _possible_ until now.

On the other hand, she wondered just _how_ she managed to get all that information in the first place and why she was passing it on to Keqing, and not the Adventurer's Guild or the royal castle.

Keqing looked up, she saw Malori looking at her with a face as grave and serious as the contents of the documents. “Any questions?” Malori asked.

Her tone was calm and cool but came off menacing for it, considering the circumstances.

Keqing quietly cleared her throat. “Just two. That small script you wrote for the climactic moment… is it really necessary?”

“It’s more of contingency than anything else,” Malori replied. “Things will get heated and we won’t have much time to think. It’ll be better if you have something already memorized, practiced, and ready to unleash at the moment than hoping you’ll have the time to craft something on-the-spot—not to mention there’s the chance you might just blurt out something that’ll do more harm than good.”

Keqing sighed. “A fair point.”

“And your other question?” Malori asked.

“Did...” Keqing hesitated, “did you write it?”

“No,” Malori replied, “you can say that I consulted with a _professional_ for that.”

“I see,” Keqing said.

“Then are we ready to do this?” Malori said as she held her hand out.

“Yes,” Keqing replied as she took it. “I’ve never yet broken a contract and I don’t intend to start now.”

* * *

About a week later, Keqing was in the forest surrounding the Demon Tower. The demons had already long known they were in the area, but just like Malori had said, they had yet to cross the line where they'd start focusing the scrying crystals' lenses on them, the monsters and Generals of the first few floors would get ready for intruders.

It gave them a few moments to talk peacefully.

“Are you ready?” Malori asked.

“I am,” Keqing said. “Are you?”

“Definitely,” Malori replied.

“Then let’s go,” Keqing said, nodding.

Without another word, the two of them headed together to the Demon Tower. Keqing never was for idle conversation during the quiet moments of a quest.

They burst through the entrance of the Demon Tower, rapier or casting hand at the ready, expressions serious, their movements intentional and calculated.

If the residents of the tower were surprised to see Malori with a companion that wasn’t Cerik Aldebrandt, if they were reluctant to attack her when they realized she fully intended to fight, or if they stopped to assess what was going on before acting…

… Neither Malori nor Keqing showed any hesitation in turn.

They were like a walking storm of lightning and fire, striking single, decisive blows with an electrically charged rapier, incinerating anything and anyone in their path to ash and black smoke.

They blazed through each floor, cutting the shortest possible paths to the stairs and mechanisms leading further up the tower, ignoring whatever currency and items dropped from their slain foes, not even giving a glance at the many treasure chests and other points-of-interest for adventurers meant as incentives for them to keep climbing or delaying tactics.

And if they somehow managed to disable or find a way around every puzzle and trap, as if they had copies of the original schematics and the maintenance guides…

… Well, that was going to be a problem for General Fhaust and his subordinates.

They reached the higher levels of the Demon Tower in record time, they stopped before one of the grand double doors that warned you were about to face one of the Generals. They had already killed anything and everything that could have been a threat, letting them stop to recover their health and mana, catch their breaths, and have one more conversation.

“Are you ready for this?” Malori asked.

“I’m ready,” Keqing said.

“Are you still going to go with the original script or are you going to do something of your own?” Malori asked.

“The original script,” Keqing replied. “I tried to make one on my own but it was more difficult than I thought and you wouldn’t _believe_ what ghostwriters will charge for a speech to say before a Demon General.”

“Everybody always wants something cool to say but they don’t want to put their money where their mouth is. Anyway, shall we?” Malori said as she put one hand on a door.

“Let’s,” Keqing said before she did the same on the other.

Together, they pushed them open and stepped through.

The doors magically shut as soon as they were clear, sealed to prevent any second thoughts or escape during the ensuing battle. Keqing paid it no mind, every Demon General’s room used the same mechanism so she’d heard it so many times before, so instead, she focused on the layout of the room.

Unlike most of the Demon Tower’s floors, this area was almost entirely flooded with ankle-deep water, the only other feature aside from the tall pillars was a single giant slab of rock standing at the other side of the hall. It looked almost like the mountains you’d find at the Eastern continents, and at the top was a building made to resemble a small pavilion, a single occupant sitting cross-legged inside.

Demon General Ganyu slowly got up, the large cowbell around her neck didn't even rattle as she walked over to the side facing Malori and Keqing. "Forgive me," she said as she pulled her bow on her back, a magical string and arrow appeared and were drawn. “My duty demands I cannot let you go any further.”

And with that, she fired directly at them.

Malori and Keqing immediately dashed off into two different directions.

Anyone who thought all this water was decorative or just for annoying adventurers with soggy boots and wet socks quickly learned its true danger as Ganyu’s arrows froze their legs to the floor, leaving them easy prey for a direct hit, disrupting formations, or unable to aid their allies. Large sections of the water began to near-instantly freeze over, icy shards began flying everywhere like frozen shrapnel, the sounds of magical explosions and splashing water echoed in the hall.

Keqing and Malori did not even try to fire back, just rushed to Ganyu’s shooting platform.

Ganyu shot at Keqing, Keqing began to disappear in clouds of purple sparks, leaving trails of violet lightning when she reappeared, just barely avoiding the resulting explosions or getting frozen.

Ganyu shot at Malori, Malori used fireballs to intercept, not powerful enough to destroy them but render them effectively harmless, a tiny fraction of the power she was capable of.

As vast as their maximum mana were, the two needed as much of it as they could for their plan to work.

Magic arrows continued to fall like hail, enchanted ice lotus flowers began to sprout all over the area. Freezing cold mist pouring out from them as they bloomed, blocking Malori and Keqing’s paths, forcing them to suddenly swerve or jump as the water around them froze, the edges of the ice shot out to them like the jaws of some monster.

The ice lotuses began to wilt, runes carved into the floor began to activate, the characters alien to most of Folstina but intimately familiar to Keqing. The room began to take an unnerving, unnatural ice blue hue, the weathered surface of the mountain began to be surrounded by mist, the frozen sections of the room began to rapidly thaw or explode like shattered snowflakes as their leftover mana was sucked into the floor.

“Malori!” Keqing cried.

“I know!” Malori yelled back.

Ganyu’s arrows stopped, an icy sphere appeared on top of the pavilion, it spun around and rapidly grew in size.

The temperature in the room rapidly began to drop, Malori and Keqing began to feel a chill seeping into their bones despite their hearts pumping and their skin sweating from the exertion, but still, they rushed toward the base of Ganyu's shooting platform.

Keqing vertically ran up the side, Malori jumped and grabbed her around her waist.

Just before gravity caught hold of them and Malori’s weight yanked them both down, the two of them disappeared in a massive purple cloud of sparks, they rushed half-way up the shooting platform as a massive, crackling ball of lightning.

Ganyu’s ice sphere reached its full size, mists spread out from it like clouds, snowflakes began to fall from the air around it.

“ _Glaze over!”_

Gigantic, enchanted icicles began to rain down all over the area, the whole room rapidly froze over and was covered in an icy cold mist.

Keqing and Malori reappeared in an explosion of sparks, an icicle was just about to fall on them.

_Fwoosh!_

A giant pillar of flame shot up and instantly turned it to vapor before a second shot out below them. Keqing sweated from the intense heat and the sheer power Malori was showing off, the sort of strength she'd only read about in the exploits of the ancient heroes or what the mages said was _theoretically_ possible with magic.

Ganyu’s ice storm ended just as Malori and Keqing were now level with the pagoda. Malori let go, Keqing dashed forward like a bolt of lightning and ended up a few feet away from Ganyu. Ganyu jumped back, already aiming and readying a new arrow before her feet even landed.

At that moment, Keqing was glad she decided to memorize the script and rehearse it to the point where it was almost as natural as her combat maneuvers.

Because looking at Ganyu this close, in such great detail, with her heart already pounding, Keqing couldn't have mustered the focus or the willpower to think up words and what to do on the spot. She opened her inventory, reached into her protected slot, pulled out the item, and cried:

“Please accept this gift from me!”

With the same grace and delicacy that she would strike with her rapier, Keqing thrust forward a bouquet of Qingxin flowers.

They were already a rare enough sight in their home country, they were rarer still here in Folstina. There was no particularly strong demand for them among commoners or aristocrats, they were nearly impossible to cultivate, and if anyone was going to import them here to Folstina, it would both cost a handsome sum and the flowers themselves would often be preserved or processed, keeping them alive by mimicking the harsh conditions they grew in was an arduous and expensive process in itself.

So to have a perfect, fresh, and undamaged bouquet of them here in the Demon Tower was an incredible sight indeed.

Ganyu seemed to be so struck by the gift that her concentration broke, the string and the arrow both harmlessly shattered into magical snow before fading out of existence.

Her body and mind running on muscle-memory and rote-memorization, Keqing looked at Ganyu and said, “I know we come from different worlds and are on opposite sides of this war—but I want to get closer to you and know you better! May these flowers act as a sign of my good faith.”

And with that, Keqing and Malori had done everything they possibly could.

Whatever happened next was entirely dependent on how Ganyu reacted.

And for the first time she could remember in quite a while, Keqing was utterly _terrified_ , she was glad her face had somehow frozen looking earnest rather than nervous.

Ganyu lowered her bow, which was a good sign. She slowly walked over, her eyes darting between Keqing’s sweating face and the bouquet, her bow still in hand; she was probably wary of treachery, considering so many adventurers gladly resorted to dirty tricks. She was right before Keqing, in close enough range to touch her and freeze her to death with her hand…

… Or holster her bow so she could graciously hold out both her hands with a smile.

Keqing rapidly unfroze, she didn’t hesitate to place the Qingxin flowers in Ganyu’s hands. She felt her nervousness rapidly begin to disappear as Ganyu gently wrapped her fingers around the stems, Keqing felt the corners of her mouth curl up into a smile as she saw Ganyu delicately bringing them up to her face and inhaling their unique scent, and then--

_Chomp._

Ganyu bit off one of the tops of the flowers, leaving just the stem and the leaves. And then she pulled that stem out of the little ribbon keeping the bouquet together, put it into her mouth, and started chewing and pulling the rest of it up like Keqing had seen some children do with candy.

Keqing watched with wide-eyes, feeling a mix of confusion and endearment at the sight of Ganyu _eating_ her bouquet of rare, expensive flowers.

Malori climbed into the pavilion with her, she let Keqing know by putting her hand on her shoulder. “You can stand up now,” she said.

Still confused and feeling conflicted, Keqing pushed herself back up to her feet. Her knees ached from the pagoda’s unforgiving hardwood floor, but she didn’t pay it much mind as Ganyu finished off the last of the flowers and all that was left was the ribbon.

Ganyu swallowed, sighed and made an _adorable_ satisfied expression, before she calmed down, turned to Keqing, and said, “Thank you for the gift. I’m afraid I’m still going to have to kill you, as per my contract, but I feel obliged to offer you something in return.”

“Can I ask you out on a date sometime?” Keqing said. “Somewhere in the wilderness surrounding Folstina where the guards and populations are few and the ones that are there won’t suspect that there’s a Demon General in disguise among them.”

“Oh, I’m amenable to the idea, truly, but I’m on a very strict schedule here in the Demon Tower with plenty of work to do even when _not_ defending my floor,” Ganyu said. “It’s not that I don’t have free time, it’s just that the odds of our schedules aligning and being able to make the most of it is rather low.”

“Ah, about that," Keqing said, "I've prepared protocols and contingencies to ensure we can reliably inform each other when we're available and maximize our time besides."

“I’ve got them in writing with me!” Malori said, waving the small notebook Keqing had made.

“How nice!” Ganyu said, smiling. “I rather like someone who thinks their plans through like this.” Then, she frowned, and said, “I suppose I don’t need to explain how you’re leaving the Demon Tower, then?”

“No and don’t worry: I believe it’s bad form for me to kill the woman I’ve just asked out on a date or have her kill me, so I’ve got Malori on that, too,” Keqing said, much less enthusiastically.

“Any last words before I send you on your way?” Malori said as she prepped her casting hand.

Keqing nodded at Malori, turned to Ganyu, and said, “You, ah, look very beautiful, General Ganyu. You were quite literally stunning the first time I saw you.”

Ganyu chuckled. “Thank you. And please, just call me Ganyu.”

“Ganyu it is,” Keqing said before Malori incinerated her in a blast of magical fire.

* * *

Keqing revived in the church, exactly as she'd planned. Instead of heading back to the Guild or her many other duties, she decided to wait at the pews. Little less than an hour later, Malori's casket appeared, she was revived and joined Keqing.

“So, how are you feeling?” Malori asked quietly.

“Conflicted,” Keqing said. “On the one hand, I’m happy this worked out exactly as we’d planned. On the other hand...” she looked down, “this is going to get expensive not to mention increasingly risky.”

Malori chuckled. “Yeah, she’s not going to be a cheap date…” she lowered her voice and continued, “though, I can get you a _part-time job_ that can make things a little easier...”

Keqing needed no explanation. “Before I even consider your offer, I need a job description in writing, along with benefits and holidays, and possibilities for advancement.”

If she was going to fraternize with the enemy, work as a double agent against her country and humankind as a whole, she may as well do it _well._

**Author's Note:**

> Kuru, if you’re reading this, thank you for all your work, Mage & Demon Queen fit this incredibly specific niche in my life and is an amazing addition to the library of Yuri media in the world. I hope I did Malori justice.
> 
> P.S. I'm afraid of writing my other ideas because they're mostly kinky smut. You don't need to respond to this question, but I'm afraid of making a story that's just too spicy and might upset you, and want to know how you feel about fanfic getting... very far from vanilla.


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